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GAHĪZ

GAHĪZ, weekly newspaper published in Kabul from 6 Dalw 1347/27 January 1968 to 10 Ṯawr 1352/30 April 1973, owned, edited, and published by Menhāj-al-Dīn Gahīz (1922-73), who was apparently assassinated by Soviet agents (Moḥammad-Esḥāq, pp. 20-21). After a short interval, its publication was resumed by the publisher’s son for only three months.

Gahīz was a radical-religious newspaper and hence of significance in the resurging religious movement in Afghanistan. About 20 percent of the paper was in Pashto, the rest in Persian. It was published first in four four-column pages of 24 x 36 cm and later in four pages of six columns, measuring 42 x 60 cm and carrying illustrations. Single issues cost 2.50 afghanis; the annual subscription in Afganistan was 140 afghanis. A complete set of Gahīz outside Afghanistan is available at the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books of the British Library, London.